Marian Magazine - Marian High School

“Seeing the club continue to be a source of confidence to many of the currentstudents really makes me proud and grateful to those who have kept it going.Mr. Esser was a great role model who really challenged me to be a leader and togrow as an individual.”Kara Stockdale ’05At the age of 16, Kara said she couldn’t evenbegin to understand the impact that startingthis club would have on her. Looking back,she realizes how it really helped to shape hertime at Marian and beyond. “Being part ofthe team impacted me on several levels,” Karasaid. “As one of the driving forces behindthe team, I was immediately thrust into aleadership position.”According to Kara, the trapshootingexperience and the support she received fromEsser were the most significant and formativeexperiences she had at Marian. “Helping tostart a club that became very successful gaveme a lot of confidence,” she said. “Seeing theclub continue to be a source of confidence tomany of the current students really makes meproud and grateful to those who have kept itgoing. Mr. Esser was a great role model whoreally challenged me to be a leader and togrow as an individual.”Living for opportunities totake chargeIf you ask Sharon Slattery ‘75 where shegot the confidence, leadership skills andcompetitive spirit to pursue a career as a FBIagent, she will tell you without hesitationit’s because of both her parents and Marian.“Marian was critical in building upon thefoundation which my parents started as itrelated to both confidence and leadership,”she said. “Both of my parents and Marianencouraged me to get involved and tochallenge myself.”During her career with the FBI, Slattery hasheld the position of investigator, liaison andtrainer and manager at both the WashingtonD.C. FBI Headquarters and the Los AngelesFBI Field Office. Considering how quicklya crime case develops, Sharon’s leadershipskills were put to the test on a daily basis.“It was important for the agents that I wassupervising to feel confident in me and in thedecisions that I was making,” she said.Recently, Sharon shared how her Marianexperience affected her career with currentstudents. As a speaker at the Lunch witha Leader speaker series at Marian, Sharondemonstrated how Marian enables youngwomen to develop a strong sense of self,which directly influences confidence. “Themore experiences one has, the more successthey will have,” she said. “The more successone has, the more willing they are to try newexperiences and step out of their comfortzone, which results in more and more selfconfidence.”She credits the number and variety ofactivities that Marian offers to its students.Just being involved, she said, allowed meto experience success, which helped me togain more confidence and want to challengemyself even more. “Marian provided anenvironment where I was comfortablebeing me,” she said. “I was so comfortablewith both the students and the staff, that Inever hesitated to challenge myself and getinvolved in activities where I had to stepoutside of my comfort zone.”Sharon believes these opportunities arepart of what makes Marian unique. “Marianopens lots of doors to those students who arewilling to get involved,” she said. She hopesthe Lunch with a Leader speaker series willinspire current students to step out of theircomfort zone and challenge themselves tobecome the leaders they are capable of being.Benefiting from a uniqueenvironmentMary Strom Hawkins, Ph.D. ‘69, presidentof Bellevue University, has always believedthat the all-female environment at Mariangreatly impacted her as a student. “The factthat girls will play all the roles impacts you,whether you are aware of it or not,” she said.“You start thinking naturally about girls andwomen in leadership roles.”According to Mary, the teachers andhead of school enhanced that experienceby challenging the student body. “Theydemanded high performance and theyinstilled in you the belief that you needed toexcel and to do the work in order to excel,”she said. However, she said, the school alsomanages to strike a very rare balance ofcompetition and cooperation that teachesyoung girls that is not all about winning; it’sabout becoming your best and helping othersachieve the same.Mary used the support she received fromMarian and her family to earn her bachelor’sdegree in business administration andeconomics from the University of Arizona.From there, she received a master’s degreefrom the University of California. Afterworking at a few colleges, Mary entered hercurrent role at Bellevue University in 1995.Now it was her turn to create an environmentthat enables students to develop, learn andgrow. The ability to create an environmentwhere people can succeed is what Marybelieves is the best, and most important, partof her job.She relies on more than her leadershipskills to guide her in this process. It alsoinvolves her faith. Mary believes deeply inthe concept of servant leadership, a phrasecoined by Robert Greenleaf in his 1970 essayThe Servant Leader. She describes servantleadership as using personal intellect andenergy to create better lives for others.“It’s not about making the most moneyor getting the most attention or buildingpersonal image or even success or failure,”she said. “It’s about using your energy andintellect to create better lives for others.It’s listening. It’s improving peoples’communities, nation and world.”Recently, Mary generously led Marian in aresearch project that took a closer look atMarian’s environment and the role it plays indeveloping confident, independent, thinkingleaders. (See page 13). The research identifiedwhen and why students were engagedand helped Marian teachers leverage thisknowledge to make every teaching moment apowerful, engaging moment.17